[quote=“Zita Carno”]Welcome to the club, “hitting tips”! When I realized that I would never be an overpowering pitcher like Feller, Raschi, Gibson, Verlander or Sabathia, I knew I would have to go in the other direction, and so I did. I became a snake-jazz pitcher, and a very good one. I was one of those infuriating, exasperating sidearmers who used the crossfire practically all the time, and I built up a very good arsenal around two pitches—a slider which I nicknamed “Filthy McNasty” after a character in an old W.C. Fields movie because that was exactly what it was—it had a sharp late break to it—and a very good knuckle-curve. I too relied on location (what we call “control”) and mixing up my pitches.
Ed Lopat once told me, “Move the ball around—high, low, inside, outside, and change speeds. Stay away from the middle of the plate.” Sound advice for any pitcher.
8) :baseballpitcher:[/quote]
Nice! Great description. I focused on playing first base in high school and college but from when I started baseball as a kid until my 2nd year of high school I also pitched. I made the all-star team every year for a few simple reasons. Not just playing well at first base and hitting good. I was that left handed pitcher who threw slow, off speed pitches but also threw strikes. After the flamethrowers pitched they put me in and it threw the other teams off balance. Why didn’t I stick to pitching? I don’t really know. I just loved hitting and first base better I guess.
Btw, if you were a left handed sidearmer throwing to me a left handed hitter … that would have been tough.